As they started to leave the room, Damian stirred and raised his head. ‘What’s going on, what are you doing in my bedroom, and what’s the joke?’ He looked at his friends who were doubled over with the silent laughter they were valiantly trying to stifle. It was hard to see in the low light, but there was a disturbing energy emanating from both of them. He sat up suddenly. ‘Stop it, you two, I need to know what’s going on here.’
Gabriel straightened up. ‘Damian, yes, you do need to know what’s happening, but for the moment, we have to rescue Justin.’ And with a grin, he turned and quietly left the room.
Martin suddenly sat down on the side of the bed. ‘Ahhh, Damian, Gabe and I have just heard a rather startling conversation between Justin and Meredith.’ He paused as if wanting to go on, but unsure how to go about it.
Damian had never seen Martin stuck for words before. He was intrigued.
‘It’s not something I, or we, can repeat … ahhh … until we speak to Meredith that is, I think. I think, yes, I think, you should get up and get dressed.’
‘Martin, what’s going on? My head is still pounding, and my stomach is not good.’ He surged out of the bed and made a dash for the bathroom.
He really had tied one on last night, but they needed him alert, so Martin wandered across to the bathroom. ‘Damian, you’re going to need your wits about you, so take some aspirin and have a cold shower.’
Martin left to join Gabriel in the hallway.
Meredith turned as the door opened. ‘Oh, do come in, who else should I expect? Bede and Hera perhaps.’ She looked furious as well she should. Justin was now sitting in the high backed armchair, very pale with a slight sheen of perspiration on his face.
He, too, turned toward the opening door. ‘God in hell, Gabriel and Martin, get out of here. This does not concern you.’
‘Sorry, Meredith’, Gabriel answered her first, ‘no, it’s only me, Martin, and I hope Damian. Ahhh, we’ve been eavesdropping.’ He held up the very sophisticated equipment he was still holding. ‘And it’s been enlightening, ahm’, he turned to Justin, ‘I take it this has all been a bit of a surprise for you as well?’
Justin scowled at him. ‘A shock, to say the least, you supercilious twit, you can’t suggest to me that it’s not a complete surprise to you.’
Looking apologetically across at Meredith. ‘Ahhh, well, in fact, I have to say that I did know most of it some time ago. James, you know, he did keep in touch with both me and Martin.’
‘Just what gave you the right to eavesdrop on me in my rooms, and what right had James to discuss my personal affairs?’ Meredith was very pale and was still holding the rifle firmly with her finger on the trigger, although it was pointing at the ground.
Gabriel surveyed the combatants eyeing each other with hostility from across the space of the very beautiful Turkish carpet covering the polished boards of the floor. ‘I’m sorry, Meredith, we thought it would not be a good idea if you shot Justin just yet, although I can understand why you might want to.’
Martin had entered the room by then, and Damian, a few moments later. His hair still wet from the very quick shower. He halted on the threshold. ‘Wow, you can cut the silence with a knife.’ And not having any idea what was going on, was agog with curiosity. ‘What have I missed?’ he asked cheerfully. ‘Are we about to have a revelation?’
They all turned to him and stared.
Chapter Thirty-Four
World War Three
The inspector and his sergeant arrived very early that morning, driving up in the police Toyota 4WD to find Pete sitting on the front steps, calmly smoking a cigarette. He climbed slowly to his feet, and with a grin, greeted them.
‘Good morning, chaps, welcome to World War Three.’
They could hear the shouting as they approached, ‘What’s going on?’
‘Good question, are you sure this is a good time, Inspector?’ Pete was grinning. ‘I’d take it easy if I were you,’ he said, as they all mounted the steps and banged on the door.
To their surprise, it was Gabriel who answered. ‘Come in to the madhouse.’ He glanced at Pete with raised brows, and then the inspector, ‘I hope you have some positive information? Anything at this point might be helpful. We actually need a distraction.’ Pete saluted briefly and went back outside to sit again on the front steps.
They all moved through into the dining room, and Inspector Campbell looked around. No one was actually sitting at the table. They were ranged around the room in attitudes of aggression and rage. He could almost feel the energy zapping out of control around the room.
Gabriel drifted across, and put his arm gently around Bede’s shoulder. He spoke calmly, but firmly not really raising his voice, while addressing the whole room. ‘I think we all need to calm down and leave this pointless discussion, while we hear what Inspector Campbell has to say. With any luck, he’ll have some information more relevant than what we’ve been shouting about.’
All eyes turned to him, and then the inspector. The tension in the room slowly lowered, and dissipated.
Meredith came forward. ‘Inspector, and Sergeant, please come in.’ She turned to Mrs Robinson who, looking stunned, was standing quietly in the background with a coffee pot in her hands. ‘Robby, please, I think we need some fresh coffee. That must be cold by now.’ Turning around, continued in a steely voice, ‘And we’ll all sit down quietly and listen.’
‘I do have some interesting news folks that I think may answer a few questions, but I need some answers first.’ He turned to Damian and fixed him with a steely gaze. ‘Those two thugs at the club the other night, where did you actually first see them?’
Damian looked startled. ‘Christ, I’d forgotten about those two. There’s been so much else going on here. Give me a minute to let me think. I became aware of the Pom following me around at Curtin, a couple of days before they attacked me the first time. I can’t remember an exact date, if that’s what you want.’ He was thoughtful. ‘It was quite a while before Gabe and Martin arrived, but I can’t remember exactly. I did report the attack to the police. Why?’
‘Well, it seems they have a strong connection to George and Edmondo both. At the moment, neither of them is saying much, but we’ve been on to Interpol, and they both have records and outstanding warrants in France and the Czech Republic with no record of them actually arriving in this country. We’ve been able to trace their connection to George through an international group of drug smugglers working between Europe and Australia. Apparently, there is an ongoing investigation at the moment, which we seem to have stumbled into. It seems most of the hard drugs come in through Perth’, he now looked toward Bede, ‘and are distributed, we think, through your freight services both overseas and to the east. It’s a roundabout route, but safe apparently, and this has been happening for several years.’
There was a startled silence at this pronouncement. Bede, white-faced, turned to Gabriel, ‘That can’t be right, James would never countenance such a thing.’
‘No’, he said firmly, ‘I agree.’ He turned to the inspector. ‘There’s more to the story, isn’t there?’
‘Yes, and we need to move very quietly because the person actually in charge of this end of the operation is someone most of you know very well.’
All eyes immediately turned to Justin. ‘It’s not me’, he shouted jumping to his feet, ‘this has gone on long enough, I’m guilty of a little manipulation, greed, and of course, debatable ethics, but I would never be involved in drug smuggling.’ He sat suddenly, his face very red with his white hair uncharacteristically disordered, and muttered almost under his breath, ‘Drug smuggling has got to be so passé.’
Bede and Hera dissolved into cleansing laughter. Meredith smiled, and both Gabe and Martin tried desperately to keep a straight face, while Damian seemingly was the only one adversely affected by this statement. He turned toward Justin and snarled,
‘Way to go, Dad.’
The inspector looked startled, and the sergeant grinned. ‘I guess that’s what World War Three was about?’
‘A little support from you two would be helpful.’ Justin glared at Gabriel and Martin.
‘Justin, we have more important things going on here right now, if you are not the leader of a drug smuggling gang.’ Gabriel still seemed to be having trouble keeping all expression from his face.
Bede elbowed him in the ribs, and turning to her, he finally relaxed enough for his grin to show. He pulled her hard against him, and bending, buried his head in her neck. They could all see his shoulders shaking with laughter, as he tried desperately to control it.
Martin finally sat down. ‘Justin, I’m sorry it’s what you deserve after all the machinations over the last few years, but I agree with Gabe. When he can finally control himself, we have other issues here now.’ He turned to the inspector. ‘Please continue.’
‘I seem to have walked into a family argument, but we will have to leave the implications of that until later.’ He looked pointedly at Damian. ‘As I said, there is an ongoing investigation into the drug smuggling that’s outside my province. But as it impacts onto the ongoing investigation of James’s death, I intend to continue making enquiries. The person we think is very involved, but with no actual proof, is Mikael’, he looked directly at Bede, ‘your manager in Perth.’
There was a stunned silence in the room.
‘Mikael?’ Bede looked startled. ‘Good God, he’s been with us for the last twenty years. James knew him in France, he’s part of the family connections. That’s how he came to be working with us. He’s been helping to manage the Perth office for over ten years.’ Bede turned to Gabriel in confusion. ‘Did you suspect any of this?’
‘I knew there had to be someone either working here or in the Perth office, so although we didn’t suspect him in particular’, he shrugged, ‘I admit he was on our list, and I could make a case against him, but it’s all circumstantial. There’s absolutely no proof.’
The inspector looked toward his sergeant who shrugged. ‘I agree, there is no proof, and even with what we have managed to drag out of your two assailants, there are still questions unanswered. Neither have actually met the man they were working for, and although they’re not stupid and did try for their own protection, he managed to avoid meeting or even speaking directly to either of them. I suspect he’s behind James’s death, or at least his activities contributed. He’s very cagy. If we’re to prove anything at all, we’re going to have to be very careful.’ He looked around at the stunned faces around him and continued, ‘Which brings me to the reason I’m here. I have a plan and I’ll need all of your help.’
Mrs Robinson came back into the room at that moment with a fresh pot of coffee, and moving to the table, spoke for the first time, ‘Meredith, I heard what the inspector said. I may be able to help a little.’
The inspector became instantly alert, and turning to her with a look of fierce concentration on his face, ‘I thought you might, Mrs Robinson, you knew him rather well at one time.’
Robby felt herself flush and with a diffident shrug nodded. ‘Yes, in fact I almost married him years ago after my husband was killed.’
Hera got up and crossed to her. She gently took the pot of coffee from her and directed her to a chair. ‘Sit down, Robby, and tell us all what you know.’
‘Well, I didn’t marry him eventually because there was something about him that never seemed quite right. He was secretive, but more than that’, she paused thoughtfully, and then continued, ‘I’ve worked for the family for a long time in various houses, and secrecy is really part of your mystique, but it was more than that. He was always asking questions about you girls and James and Meredith as well. He seemed to want to know how this property worked. It was more than being polite and making conversation. He wanted to know specifics. There were times’, she paused for a moment again, then taking a deep breath, continued, ‘in fact, I became very suspicious about what he was doing and why he wanted to know so many details. It was before I came to work here permanently. I was living in Perth at the time, and I started to follow him at night to see where he went. He had a number of places and people he met regularly. I had never seen any of them before. I became quite worried and even frightened in the end.’ She paused to look around. ‘I’m not proud of what I did, it’s hard to explain, but then I decided to confront him. I thought he was having an affair. One of the people he met often was a very beautiful woman. I told him I had seen him with her when he had told me he was tired and needed to get an early night. I demanded an explanation, he denied the affair, but it developed into a violet argument.
‘He became very abusive, so I ended the relationship. But he would never explain why he was so interested in the private details about James and everyone here. Then after James was killed, I became anxious and frightened again, and you all started thinking James has been murdered. I felt it had to be someone from the Family, but I really can’t believe he had anything to do with it. There have been times when I thought I should mention some of this to someone. But it’s just suspicions, and we were very close for a long time.’ She looked at the inspector. ‘If you really believe Mikael has something to do with all of this, maybe I can be of some help. I remember all the places I followed him to and the people he met. Even though it was several years ago, it might be helpful.’ She looked expectantly around the room.
The Inspector was standing quietly. There was an aura of stillness around him. Then finally he blinked, took a long breath, and stirred, ‘This could be very helpful, Mrs Robinson, but you say you don’t know their names?’
‘No, but I could identify them if you have photos or something.’
There was another stunned silence in the room. Meredith rose from her chair and went to take her hand and squeezed it gently. ‘Robby, I had no idea. I always wondered what had happened between the two of you, but I felt I couldn’t ask. I’m sorry you felt so threatened. You should have said something to me. I appreciate your loyalty as does everyone here, I’m sure.’
Almost as one, they turned toward Inspector Campbell. He, in turn, turned toward Gabriel first then Martin, ‘Can you two add anything to what Mrs Robinson has said?’
Gabriel turned to Martin briefly, and then turned back to the inspector. ‘If I could speak to you in private, Inspector?’
There was a general outcry from all present, and Justin jumped to his feet, furiously shouting louder than anyone. ‘No, you don’t, my boy. Anything you have to say, you say in front of everyone in this room. There has been too much secrecy in this affair on all levels. Now, we keep everything in the open.
Meredith broke in, ‘Much as I hate to agree with anything you say, Justin, in this instance, you’re right. There has been too much secrecy for years. If we’re ever to get through this, there has to be total honesty.’ She took a breath. ‘That means no more secrecy!’ she almost shouted the words.
There was a general murmur of agreement, and they turned as one to Gabriel.
‘Okay, Okay.’ Gabriel held up his hands. ‘Okay, no more secrets.’ Frowning, he looked around the room and studied each face carefully then spoke quietly. ‘Ahhh’, turning to Bede, ‘I need to say this before we go any further into what Martin and I suspect, or rather, the possibilities that need to be aired.’
‘Gabriel you’re starting to worry me, what are you trying to say?’
‘I adore you, you know that, and I would never do anything to harm you or anyone here. You’ve got to know me over the last couple of weeks, so please will you trust me with this? Things could get a little sticky.’
‘I reserve judgement, get on with it.’
He sighed then turned to the inspector.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Inspector Campbell is Pissed
Inspector Campbell was frowning. ‘Okay, now can we get
down to some serious business, you two? You know more than you’ve been saying, and now it’s time to come clean. I’m becoming exasperated by all this family business, this is Australia, and we do things a certain way here. Straightforward, in fact, so start talking.’ He pointed a finger at Gabriel, ‘You first.’
Gabriel took Bede’s hands in his, kissed her knuckles gently, then turned back to the inspector. ‘I think I need to recap on how and why we arrived here, so I’ll start from the beginning. Some of you know all of this, but I think it’s important. We’ve suspected for a while that someone, perhaps Mikael, has been using the freight business from here to transport drugs, but have never been able to prove anything. We contacted James about three months ago and alerted him to what we suspected. He started making discrete enquiries, then to our astonishment, or maybe not, he was murdered. It didn’t fit, for the smuggling to continue, they needed James alive. Before we could make the trip here to see what had happened, we were directed by the council to investigate Justin for theft and fraud’, he looked briefly across at Justin, ‘involving antique family books and jewellery. James had contacted Laurent about the books he had been offered just before he was murdered.
‘We needed to see the Book of Letters to confirm it was one that had been stolen from the archives.’ He paused to collect his thoughts. ‘It wasn’t, so then we needed to know where the two books had come from, as they seemed to be connected. We also needed to know and who had offered them to James and how he came to acquire them. Hence, the trip to Paris.’
Bede interrupted, ‘So you knew all along that James had been murdered, and that it had something to do with those bloody books?’ She looked at him accusingly.
‘No, of course not, initially, it didn’t occur to us that James’s death was anything other than a dreadful accident, but the fact that no one from the family came to the funeral was suspicious.’ He sighed. ‘You don’t understand, at that point, it was all conjecture. There were a few people within the family we had been directed to investigate, Justin was only one of them.’ Drawing a long breath he continued, ‘That was in Prague, then the full council intervened, and we were directed to come here to finally investigate James’s death. Laurent wanted to keep everything quiet. He didn’t know at that point where the books had come from, and if from the archives, who the thief could be. There were a number of people who had access to the archives, and to his personal library. Laurent directed us to examine the books carefully. He told us what to look for and about his conversations with James.
A Conundrum Page 23